Bloody Rose
by Agasga
Summary: A blood red rose lay beside Alex as he awoke in his cell. Who and what lay before him, he did not know, but he knew for the first time that he needed help, badly. Includes K-Unit. Story is being revised.
1. If I Should Fall

A/N: Before I post more chapters, I want to go back and fix any problems that I see in the previous chapters. The plot or the basis of the chapters will not change just wording and grammatical mistakes. If you see anything that I have missed, let me know and I will fix it the best I can!

If I Should Fall

~~Alex's POV~~

I ran. I ran as fast as I could over the littered forest floor. Vines and roots attempted to bring me closer to my fate, but I did not allow it. I knew that if I stopped my fate would be one of death, but I did not want to meet death for I was just too young.

The pounding of footsteps roared loudly in my ears.

I could hear the clink of their guns as they smashed against the holders of my fate. I could almost sense the excitement and urgency the guns exhibited to be fired. Or was that the fear finally consuming my mind?

My breathing was grating to my ears. My chest was heaving with exertion and desperation as my feet pounded the ground at my feet.

I could feel myself getting weaker. The days of being starved and beaten were catching up with me. The aches and pain that I had ignored could no longer be pushed under the wall. I let out a sob as I felt that wall crumble, letting wisps of pain enter my conscious. As the pain built, my feet stumbled as my concentration lapsed. I kept urging myself to pick up the pace, to make my feet more stable, but my brain would not, or could not listen to my horror.

A shot rang out behind me. In slow motion, I saw the bullet slam into the tree just inches in front of my face, destroying the wood that had done them no harm.

The jolt created by the bullet shocked my brain into understanding the urgency of this situation regardless of how my abused body felt. My speed increased, my breathing increased, and my heart pounded furiously against my ribs as new adrenaline pumped through my veins.

No matter how fast I ran, or how often I dodged the bullets coming my way, the jungle became darker. The vines and roots that once were just an annoyance came to life. The vines would reach for my arms and head while the roots raised from the ground to trip my quickly moving feet. The evil it exhibited fueled the people running behind me as the gunshots became more and the yells turned predatory.

The ferocity of the bullets leaving the barrel blended into to the sound of my breathing and the pounding of the feet. I felt as if the bullets were just as the vines and roots by obtaining a mind of its own as they came closer and closer to hitting their mark. The surprise of the bullet slamming into me increased the pain that it produced. I feel to the ground in agony, hands clutching the bleeding wound. The thought of getting up and running never crossed my mind; my body had finally reached its limit. No amount of pleading or begging would have convinced it to move so why waste the energy?

Even through the pain the hopelessness of the situation slammed into me as I lay on the ground bleeding and grunting in pain. A sob wanted to escape, but I couldn't show weakness to the people approaching cautiously. They had already seen how much they had weakened me, why should I show them how close they were to breaking me? To me, breaking wasn't an option.

A guard approached my curled up form, a gleeful smile spreading across his face. I didn't know what he was smiling about, but I found out as his show became acquainted with my heaving ribs. Letting a cry out I curled as much as possibly to protect my vulnerable abdomen. More guards happily joined the fun as they used hands, fists, and guns to do damage to my body. The blows were coming so fast that I couldn't tell where each individual blow landed. All I knew was that my body was growing in pain and that I wanted the pain to stop.

My wish was answered as a yell went up that halted all movement above me. The guards slowly stood up and moved away as another figure approached my curled body. He slowly kneeled beside me and gently touched my face. The gentleness of the touch caused me to turn toward him in surprise. I couldn't help but think why this man was here as a smile spread across his face. The smile spoke of hope that he would give me, it spoke of taking the pain away. I couldn't help but to lean into the hand that was laid in comfort on my shoulder.

Before my eyes the smile disappeared and was replaced with a look that spoke of hatred and of pain. The hand laid upon my shoulder now dug into my skin, creating fingertip bruises on my already bruised skin. The fear must have shown on my face as a dark chuckle left his lips.

It was then I realized that someone had walked and kneeled behind me. With a jolt I tried to jerk away, but the hand just sank deeper into my shoulder as the man behind me leaned over me. My struggles increased as I caught the glimpse of a needle as it was lowered to my neck.

My movements were futile as I was held still and the needle pierced my skin. My eyes grew heavy and my mind became clouded. The last thing I heard just before I was pulled into unconsciousness was, "Nighty Night Rider."

A/N: Please Review

I would love to hear your views on this story. Criticism is welcome only if it is constructive...flames just aren't that nice :


	2. Where The Rats Lie

A/N: There really is nothing I can say other than I am sorry....my family and I have gone through some rough times recently, with myself having 3 surgeries in under a year and my parents having one a piece. Hopefully now since highschool is winding down and I no longer have to worry about college stuff since senior year is almost over (YAY)....hopefully I have time to finish what I started.

* * *

Chapter 1:

Where The Rat's Lie

Awareness approached slowly as his senses awakened from their deadened state. First, Alex realized that he was laying in a cold and dark place from the lack of light perforating through his eyelids. Second, he realized he hurt...badly. And thirdly, he wanted to kill whomever knocked him out with the sedative.

Not one place was free from pain, even his hair hurt (even though that was impossible, them being made of hard keratin and all).

The pain slowly reduced to a manageable level, allowing him to assess the damage more closely and the dreary surroundings that he found himself in. As he moved each limb and uncurled his body, he came to the conclusion that he had a few cracked ribs and a broken right leg, which were the worst of his injuries. He sighed, knowing, that for a while anyway, they would prevent him from escaping. This caused him to be brought to an all time low that he had never reached in his 15 years. The feeling of hopelessness crept in on him, consuming his thoughts.

Knowing that he had at least do something rather than wallow in his despair, Alex forced his eyes open, slowly but surely. As his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting in the room, he took in his surroundings. In this room there was nothing, absolutely nothing. All that was there were dark gray walls covered in moss. The reason for the lack of light was that there was no windows. This gave way to the realization that he was underground, how far, he did not know.

Raising himself up into a sitting position, Alex crawled to the wall behind him, relaxing slightly against the support. The pain that accompanied this movement didn't seem to matter anymore, the despair that Alex had pushed away returned with a vengeance. Nothing that he did would push the thoughts away as there was nothing that kept his attention long enough for him to be distracted.

Alex realized that there was nothing that he could do at the moment. The pain was becoming overwhelming. Sighing, Alex resigned himself to the situation he was in, for the moment anyway. He leaned his head back against the moss-covered wall, closed his eyes, and tried to get some sleep.

Never once did he sense the presence of being watched. Above his head was a camera, cleverly disguised. On the other side of the camera was a middle-aged man, smiling. He couldn't wait until he got to the fun part, the part where HE would make the famous and unstoppable Alex Rider crack.

'Oh, life was good just about now,' he thought. In his hand he slowly twirled a blood red rose.

* * *

Somewhere in the middle of Australia....

K unit was not happy. They were stuck in the middle nowhere, they were hot, hungry, sleep-deprived, and pissed off at everything that moved. It did not help that Wolf was being his usual self, except twenty times worse...of course that would be their luck. Even Eagle had lost his jolly humor.

Why were they in the middle of nowhere in Australia? Truthfully they didn't know, all they know was that there was a MIA agent out here, but of course MI6 won't tell them anything else until they are positioned securely...bloody MI6.

"Eagle, SHUT UP ALREADY!" Wolf shouted as Eagle's normal humming finally hit the last nerve. However, to Wolf's annoyance, Eagle did not shut up, he just smiled and kept on.

Taking a deep breath, Wolf forcefully calmed himself down, not for himself, but so as not to kill the bloody idiot. Snake and Fox just calmly kept sitting, stirring the fire when it needed it.

A piercing ring reverberated through the Australian wilderness, shocking everyone sitting around the camp fire. Wolf hurriedly picked up the radio, already knowing that it was MI6 calling.

'Finally,' he thought. "Wolf here, over," he spoke into the radio, his annoyance carrying easily through his voice.

"Your mission is to find the one you know as Cub," the business-only voice recited on the other end. "We have reason to believe that he was abducted yesterday around where you are camped at at this minute. He is being held by the terrorist organization called the Bloody Rose. They are an unknown organization at this time. You are to proceed with caution, but you are not allowed to fail." Suddenly the radio cut off. Apparently, that was all they needed to know.

"Well that was sure helpful." Fox commented sarcastically.

"Well what did you expect." Snake replied.

Wolf sat off to the side, silent. 'So our little Cub has gotten himself into trouble, well that's just great. Of course MI6 would hire us to save his pathetic little ass.' he thought to himself with a sneer on his face.

"Okay, we are in the middle of nowhere, but Cub was last known close to our position. I guess lets split up into two's and look for any signs that Cub was here."

They all nodded and gathered their stuff to move out. Silently they separated, Wolf and Snake, and Fox and Eagle. They headed out into the wilderness as the sun slowly lowered on the horizon.

For them this was supposed to be an easy job, just find the MIA agent, but now they knew that it was not going to be that simple. They had no information and were chasing a teenager, this was going to be a joy.

* * *

The man lovingly placed the flower on the table. He nodded to his men as he walked out of his door, a smile on his face and a tune upon his lips. The men just smiled back, pleased at how things had progressed so far and the things that they knew were sure to come.

'Oh, Alex,' the man thought, 'how long is it going to take you to break? For me, I hope you are not too weak. I look forward to hearing your screams.'

With a bone chilling laugh, he made his way down to the dungeon where his price slept, oblivious to the events that were to come.

* * *

A/N: Well, what do you think. I would love any thoughts or comments that you have as it has been a while since I have wrote. I realized that I had lost the first chapter to this story just now so this is off the top of my head.

Agasga


	3. Shackled

A/N: I don't think that I can apologize enough for leaving this story sitting. I guess I lost motivation for this story, but I have finally finished my crazy first year of college and I have found that I am INCREDIBLY bored so I thought it was high time that I revisit this story. I also extend deep gratitude to those who have continued to follow this story; I am in your debts! Now enough of my excuses and on with the story!

**A/N 2: Sorry, this is not a new chapter. I was reading through my old chapters to try and continue on with this story here within the next week and found some horrible errors that I could not ignore. Again, thank you for staying with this story!**

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Alex Rider.

"Somewhere in this darkness

There's a light that I can't find

Maybe it's too far away...

Or maybe I'm just blind..."

When I'm Gone – 3 Doors Down

Shackled

_Somewhere in the middle of Australia…_

K-unit was crammed into a humvee racing across Australian desert. For once, all was quite in K-unit, even Eagle had quit his annoying humming. But all was not well for K-unit. They were still trying to decipher the piece of shit message that MI6 had decided to grace them with. Oh they found out that they were looking for Cub, who by the way forgot to mention that he was a fucking SPY! What they wanted to know is how Cub had managed to piss off this unknown organization to an extent that even M16 seemed worried about him. I mean why else would they be told to not to fail?

Snake couldn't help but to be worried about their unorthodox fifth member as he gazed out the window. As the team's medic, he hoped that Alex would be in relatively good shape if they found him.

'WHEN!' Snake managed to correct himself in his head. He couldn't think of the ifs, he needed to stay positive for all of them.

Snake heard a heavy sigh across the cramped space that seemed to be coming from Wolf. He didn't know what exactly would make his angered leader sigh with a hint of defeat. Shrugging his shoulders he returned his attention to gazing out the window for any hint of Cub.

Wolf on the other hand was trying to think of something other than what Cub was going through, but that was extremely difficult. Who knew what an organization would do to a 15 year old? The thought of the boy being captured sent tremors of anger throughout his body, but then that anger would be turned into sadness. This sadness came from the fact that M16 was using a 15 year old boy to do their dirty work!

Wolf threw a quick glance to the rest of the members of his team. Snake was gazing determinedly out the window, Eagle was doing the same, but the look on Fox's face was the most curiously of all. He was angrily cleaning his weapon, but he had a look of unhidden sorrow in his eyes. Why sorrow? Shouldn't his eyes match his actions of anger, and where was the sorrow coming from?

"What's on your mind Fox?"

Startled from his thoughts, Fox jerkily looked up. "Nothing just thinking about Cub, ya know."

"Yeah, I know. Who would have thought that Cub would piss off this organization?" Wolf chuckled slightly. "Well at least we can be thankful that it's not Scorpia."

"Well actually this could be worse," Eagle stated taking his eyes away from the window. "I mean, we know absolutely nothing about this organization. At least with Scorpia, we know what they would do to Cub to get information, but with this Bloody Rose organization it could be anybody's guess."

"I guess your right, but we have to be prepared for anything that happens and believe in the strength that Cub possess for him to survive," Wolf stated to everyone, acknowledging their nods in affirmation with one of his own.

After that statement, they all returned to what they were doing previously, but this time there was a determined glint to all of their eyes. They were going to find Cub, and they were going to find him soon.

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Alex was awoken suddenly by the loud banging of his cell door, slamming his head onto the wall behind him in surprise. Blinking the stars from his eyes, Alex waited in apprehension as an average looking man approached him. At first glance, the man did not seem so imposing, but if you were to look into his eyes you would be able to see the bottomless pits that they were. That accompanied by the smirk upon his face made Alex subconsciously press into the wall.

"Well hello my little prince," the man said as he kneeled down to Alex's eye level. The fingers on his left hand reached up to sweep the hair out of his face. Once the hair was moved, it revealed a tattoo of a rose on his temple. But just as quickly it had been shown, it was again hidden as the hair shifted down to its original position.

"I hope you like our lovely accommodations here as this will be your home for awhile," he commented as he shifted positions on the floor to where he was now sitting with his right leg pulled towards him.

"Oh they're just lovely, but do you know where I can get another room? You see, it seems as if there is a draft down here and I believe that I just saw a rat scuttle under the door." Alex just couldn't help but to make a sarcastic comment back. But his joy was short lived as the man's eyes lit with a fire as they fisted his torn shirt and threw him bodily into the wall. His eye's bored into Alex's as he breathed upon his face in anger. It appeared to Alex that he was just moments away from hitting him, but one of the men behind him made a movement toward the pair. This movement brought the man back to the present as he let out a small sigh and released Alex.

He slowly turned around to walk out the door, but he paused to whisper to one of the guards. Alex strained to hear the conversation, but he could make out nothing; he wasn't even able to read their lips as both of them had turned away from him. What ever had been said apparently was bad news for him as the guard turned and smiled menacingly at him. He dramatically, too dramatically, reached into his pocket as he measured his steps toward Alex. Taking the same position as the leader who had previously knelt there, he pulled out a filled syringe.

Alex tried to quickly shuffle away from him, but it was pointless, as he couldn't go anywhere any way. All that his efforts gave him was more pain as another guard punched him in the head making stars appear once again. In his stunned state, guard number two easily subdued him as guard number one plunged the needle into his neck.

His vision blacked around the edges and he felt the guard release him as his body went limp. Laughter echoed around the room as the guards left, leaving it to torture his thoughts as darkness claimed him.

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K-unit sped across the deserts of the Australian outback toward their previous location. They were hoping that they would find some new information as they back tracked, but it seemed that this was not to be.

Suddenly, Eagle shouted, "Look ahead! There are cars moving directly for us!"

Wolf scrambled to get closer to the front of the humvee to get a better view. Eagle was correct; just on the horizon there seemed to be a dozen or so armored cars making there way towards them. By the looks of it, they weren't taking there time either.

"Ready your weapons, we don't know if they are friend or enemy." The rest of the unit hurried to comply and settled into their positions.

Tensed and waiting the unit waited for the unknown that was speeding toward them, but they didn't have to wait long. Bullets began to bing off the side of the humvee as they all ducked for cover.

"Well I don't think they're a friend," Fox said sarcastically.

"Shoot when ever you get the chance. DON'T WASTE AMMO! We are low on supplies as it is!" Wolf shouted over the noise as rapid gunfire began inside of the humvee.

K-unit worked in unison; Snake and Fox would shoot from their windows and then switch when they ran low on ammo with Wolf and Eagle. They would through grenades whenever they had the change, but they tried to focus on taking the drivers out.

The humvee veered roughly to the right, and they began to radically slow down.

"THE DRIVERS BEEN SHOT!" Wolf shouted over the commotion.

Hurriedly, Eagle shoved the dead driver into the passenger seat and took over. He began weaving trying to dodge as many bullets as he could, but it wasn't helping much, there were just too many of the opposition.

"Ugh guys, we've got a major problem!" Eagle shouted to his teammates in the back seat.

"I can see that Eagle! We're slightly busy!" Wolf shouted back as he continued to shoot.

"No really you need to see this Wolf!" Eagle encourage again.

Angrily, Wolf climbed to look through the front windshield while glaring at Eagle out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh shit," Wolf whispered as he saw what had Eagle worried. He looked at the bazooka aimed at their humvee in disbelief.

"Eagle get us the hell out of here now!" Wolf shouted as Eagle increased his speed yet again and tried to get out of the aim of the bazooka.

With fear apparent, Wolf watched as the bazooka launched and was headed directly at them. He just managed to shout a "GET DOWN" before it connected with the humvee.

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Consciousness came slowly to Alex. His thoughts were foggy from the remaining effects that the sedative left. Slowly, he tried to move his arms about, but when they would not move, Alex froze. Terror began to seep into his bones as he tried to move his legs too.

In fear, Alex's eyes snapped open quickly taking in his predicament. Laughing caused his head to jerk to the corner that was bathed in darkness, as a figure slowly began to reveal himself.

"Oh Alex, little Alex. I have been waiting for you," the mysterious man said cynically.

To Alex, this man was another unknown, but from the looks that this man was giving him, it was not the same for him. Alex studied the man closely trying to look for some familiarity, but he could find none in the red hair and green eyes that held the face of another of his captors.

Apparently his confusion showed on his face, because the man chuckled faintly.

"Oh you do not yet know me Alex, but I know you." He silently stepped toward Alex and leaned his arms on the chair that Alex was chained to. "Would you like to get acquainted dear Alex."

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Well there it is! I welcome your comments, and thank you for reading!

Agasga


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